Sunday, July 12, 2009

Unbearable Lightness of Being...

Disclaimer: This post is not a review of the above mentioned book. The book is a great piece of work by Milan Kundera, but this post doesn't really talk about it except the Title and its basic idea.

'Unbearable Lightness of Being' - The first time I read this phrase, I said, 'How true!' It was the most concise way of putting the thought that has always troubled me.

Throughout my teenage I kept asking a question to myself and sometimes to others - Whats the purpose of my Life? In fact, what is the purpose of Existence? I remember myself writing somewhere - "Life, of all the things, cannot be left unreasoned. There has to be one, strong enough to drive the entire force."

The answers I got were hard to accept. I kept pondering over them for a long time. Life cannot be meaningless, otherwise it would all be a waste - a negative, which it cannot be. So if it is positive, it cannot be a burden. Hence in due course of time I came to terms with the idea that Existence is light, weightless and the Purpose is to live It with this realization.

Now this second part is what I call unbearable - Living with the realization that existence is light. Even if I know what I know, it is immensely difficult to actually implement. We are so used to associating ourselves with our ambitions, pride, status, that I say, "this is what I am" and suddenly my life becomes heavy, carrying the weight of all that I strive for. If I try to disassociate myself from all these then I think - Whats the point if nothing really matters!

I guess there is a subtle difference between 'what I am' and 'what I exist as'. Let me work more on this thought...
Performancing